Made With Love
by LeoN WiNgsteiN
Summary: A short one-shot in which Cecil and Carlos make cookies.


Carlos studied that recipe, both hands planted firmly on the counter to either side of the cookbook. Cecil hummed as he wisped around the room, collecting the different ingredients that they would need. He placed a big chrome bowl in the center of the kitchen island and arranged the other ingredients around it, like some sort of modern-day, edible Stonehenge. "Alright, Carlos, let's go! What do I put in first?"

Carlos turned from the book, straightening his weekend lab coat and running his eyes over the supplies Cecil had brought out for them. "We need a cup of brown sugar, packed. That is the exact amount needed to make this taste just as it should." He looked around and found the brown sugar behind the bowl. He grabbed ahold of it, and Cecil cringed. "What is it?" asked Carlos.

"That was an essential part of the makeshift bloodstone circle I made to help us summon the cookies," said Cecil.

"Um," said Carlos, unsure of how to proceed with that one. "I am 73.2 percent sure that 3even here in Night Vale, spontaneous generation of matter is still against the laws of physics, and therefore we should just follow the recipe. Do you have a measuring cup?"

"No," said Cecil, "I've never had the need for one. And I've never made cookies this way before."

"Well, we need a measuring cup," said Carlos. "I have some instruments for measuring down at the lab, but we really shouldn't mix things from the kitchen with things from the lab—that might cause some health issues that would be otherwise completely avoidable, or, not completely, but partially avoidable. And—Hey! What are you doing?"

Cecil looked up from the bowl, into which he was pouring brown sugar, straight from the bag. "What?" He stopped pouring. "That's one cup, packed." He put the bag of brown sugar down on the counter. "What's next?"

"Um, a cup of white sugar, and a stick of melted butter," said Carlos. He watched helplessly as Cecil dumped the sugar into the bowl and melted a stick in the microwave before dumping it into the bowl.

"Carlos," said Cecil, "would you like to stir this with me?" Carlos nodded and took the whisk, and Cecil came from behind, taking Carlos's hands in his, the two of them stirring together. "You should try it," said Cecil.

Carlos tentatively reached out his hand, picking up the vanilla extract. According to the recipe, he needed to add two teaspoons. He turned the bottle upside-down over the bowl, forcing himself not to calculate the rate at which the liquid flowed from the small bottle to figure how much he was putting in. He put the bottle down after adding a small amount to the mixture, and Cecil smiled to him. Cecil added some flour straight from the bag, and Carlos, as haphazardly as he could force himself to do, cracked two eggs into the mixture. Cecil added a bit of salt, and Carlos poured in a small amount of baking soda. Then, the two of them, both laughing to themselves just slightly, poured the whole bag of chocolate chips into the mixture.

"There," said Cecil. He was stirring the bowl, which was nestled in the crook of his arm, where Khoshekh usually slept while recovering from his vicious attack. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No," said Carlos. "It was… fun! I wasn't sure, but, it was!"

"Let's get these into the oven."

The two men carefully separated balls of the dough and placed it on the cookie sheet, which Cecil slid evenly into the sleek chrome oven. Carlos set the timer, and they set to cleaning up the kitchen, which they had dirtied considerably while mixing the dough. As soon as they finished returning the kitchen to its normally spotless state, the beeper of the kitchen timer went off and Cecil slid the cookies out of the oven, putting them on the counter to cool.

"Let's try them, see how they taste," said Carlos, actually getting a bit nervous that they wouldn't turn out perfect, because they didn't follow the recipe exactly.

"I'm sure they're wonderful," said Cecil, gingerly picking two cookies up from the hot sheet. He handed one to Carlos. "And they don't have to be perfect to be the best cookies that I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of making."

"Aw, Cecil," said Carlos, blushing. Cecil beamed and took a bite of his cookie. Carlos took a bite of his as well, and, although he almost burned his tongue, he could taste the sweetness of the magnificent cookie. "These are the best cookies I've ever had, as well. And, scientifically speaking, I believe they're even sweeter because they were made by you."


End file.
